初期の色偏光と旋光の理論 : AragoからFresnelへ

概要

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F. Arago discovered first the phenomena of the chromatic and rotatory polarizations in 1811. He distinguished experimentally these phenomena from each other, but he called them uniformly la polaristation coloree. J. B. Biot, a follower of Newton and Malus, found his empirical formula for the chromatic polarization in 1812, and subsequently he endeavored to evolve it semianalytically. He also made a glorious contribution to the experimental researches of rotatory polarization. He tried to explain these two kinds of phenomena as one by his idea of la polarization mobile. Finally, A. Fresnel explained these phenomena on the assumption of the transverse wave of light, which is a basic concept in modern physics. The author evaluates Fresnel and Biot in the historical perspective, by comparing their achievements at four points of time. (i) When Fresnel presented the Academy his first memoir on the polarization of light in October, 1816; (ii) when Fresnel finished his supplement to the memoir on the reflection of polarized light in January, 1818; (iii) when Fresnel declared finally his transverse wave theory of light in 1821; (iv) when Fresnel succeeded in explaining rotary polarization by his wave theory in 1822.
明治大学の論文